What emerged could be called a culture of dictation...that there should be a match, or coordination, between what one says and how that is written. This culture would have taken a while to emerge. EW: So who was behind this culture of dictation?
ME: My argument assumes…that taste-makers, gatekeepers, broadcasters, teachers, and the like were the origins of umlessness, and that listeners or audiences wouldn't have natively attended to filled pauses. In other words, people didn't show up asking [Toastmasters founder] Ralph Smedley to create a public speaking group that would clean up American speaking. Smedley and others came up with a program that included the prescription "don't say um" because it was clear, direct item in a recipe for eloquence which could be replicated with a wide number of people from many backgrounds. Maybe it was a pet peeve of theirs.I'm amused the lengths to which defenders of Toastmasters-style umlessness will go to insist about the naturalness of "um" as a distracter, but there's nothing natural about it -- the distraction is a cultural and historical artifact. It only seems "natural" because it's so embedded in our culture.
Denise Graveline has posted an interview with Michael Erard, author of Um…Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, And What They Mean. Dyed in the wool Toastmasters will probably feel uncomfortable with Erard's comments about Ralph Smedley's dogmatism, but I think it's kind of refreshing to hear someone speak out for naturalness and genuineness in speech. Follow the link to read the whole interview.